Have you seen that picture of those three monkeys? The first one has his hands over his eyes. The second has his hands over his mouth. And the third has his hands over his ears. That is what I think is wrong with sex education in schools.

The older generation knows that more and more students are having sex at an earlier age but they don’t want to talk about it. So, we have to find answers to our problems from our friends. And of course, our friends are not always right.

If I said to my teacher, "Can you teach me about safe sex?" she would immediately do like those three monkeys. But I think it is important that we discuss it.

Today I want to tell you a story that is happening a lot these days. It is about teenagers getting pregnant and having abortions. I am going to tell you about a friend of mine called Bank.

One day he found out from his girlfriend that she was pregnant. He was so shocked and didn’t know what to do. He said that he didn’t use a condom because he was her first lover so she had no sexual diseases. Also, it was more fun and natural without a condom. But he forgot to think about one important thing that could happen after having sex — getting pregnant.

Bank thought it would never happen to him. At school, they don’t really teach much about sex. They don’t really teach us clearly about how to have safe sex or how to use birth control. They teach us nothing much, and it only lasts for a week or two. Too little and quite often too late.

It wasn’t only Bank that made a mistake like that. There are a couple of my other friends too. I told you before about my friend Boat who got his girlfriend pregnant. He was using a cheap condom and didn’t wear it properly. The condom broke while he was having sex with his girlfriend. He didn’t seem to care about it at first. He also made a joke of it. By the time they found out she was pregnant it was too late to have an abortion.

Bank said that it wasn’t easy to decide about having an abortion. He said that his girlfriend and he both cried because they didn’t want to do it. But after they talked about it, they agreed to do the abortion because they were both at school and couldn’t support the baby.

Bank said to me that at first his parents refused to help because they said that they didn’t want to get involved in killing a baby. After he heard that he cried and didn’t know what to do next. But later on he knew that they just said "no" out loud because of Buddhist belief. Bank said that they just pretended not to help but later on they helped him anyway.

But his girlfriend’s parents never knew anything about the pregnancy or the abortion. They still think she is a virgin. So, his parents took his girlfriend to an abortion clinic on Sukhumvit Road. Actually, it is not an abortion clinic as that is illegal in Thailand. They call the abortion by a different name and do it in a normal clinic.

For myself, I thought abortion was legal if the mother was less than three months pregnant. But I was wrong. All abortions are illegal unless the woman was raped or the baby could damage her health.

After hearing the story from Bank. Most of my friends, including me of course, all use brand name condoms and wear them properly every time we play around. But for sure some of them still aren’t scared or worried so they still do not use a condom.

I think one day they will find out the hard way. Let’s hope there will be someone there to support them when that day comes.